Regrets
by SamuraiPrincess01
Summary: Two years after dumping Sharon, Alden realizes the grave mistake in letting her go. Now he wants her back, but doesn't want to hurt Marlo. No matter what decision he makes, the saying is true: you never realize what you got until it's gone.
1. Realization

Regrets  
  
By: Julia DeLuca  
  
"Braceface" is copyright to Nervana. Though the characters in here are being used without permission, no profit is being made from this story.  
  
Alden looked out his bedroom window, and grimaced. He saw the first snowflake fall from the sky, more following suite. He knew a snowstorm was on its way, but he didn't expect it to arrive so suddenly. That meant band practice would be canceled, since no parent would want to drive in a snowstorm unless it was necessary. He closed his window and his window drapes to ward off the cold, then turned on a nearby lamp to replace the lost light brought by his window. He sat by his desk again, and then pulled out a sheet of paper.  
  
Since I can't go out and play with my friends, Alden thought grimly. I might as well get to work on some new song lyrics.  
  
As he dug through his desk drawer, he accidentally pulled out a colorful bracelet. When he prepared to put back into his drawer, he looked at it again with great fastidiousness. He held up close to his face, examining the multitude of colors all over the band with his blue eyes. Sharon's present, Alden thought.  
  
~Flashback~  
  
Alden stood up from his arcade consol, and then looked at his girlfriend's face. Sharon placed a multi-colored band into Alden's hand. He held up into the light in order to get a better idea on what he was getting.  
  
"What's this?" Alden asked.  
  
"It's a bracelet," Sharon said, her apple green eyes twinkling with anticipation and excitement. "It's a present. You know; to celebrate our anniversary."  
  
"Our.anniversary?" Alden asked, somewhat in surprise. They actually have those for boyfriends and girlfriends?  
  
~Present Day~  
  
Alden stared sadly at the bracelet as he placed it on his desk. It had been nearly four months since he and Sharon had broken up. In his mind, he knew that wasn't true. They didn't break up; he dumped her. He shut his eyes momentarily, and opened them up again. For that brief moment, he heard Sharon's crying and whimpering.  
  
~Flashback~  
  
Alden was crouched on the ground, strumming the strings of his guitar with his guitar pick. He didn't want to look up and face Sharon. He was too angry with her for the words she had said. Insulting his new friends Tess and Marie, calling his best friend Brock "desperate", and all those other hurtful words. He knew she didn't mean what she said, and what she wrote was out of a fit of anger. But, even though he knew that, he couldn't forgive her. The words she had said, filled with criticism for his friendship with Tess. So what if she wasn't the smartest person in the world? Alden knew that was an exaggeration; he knew of Tess's repeated tendencies to woo him over. But still, that was no excuse for what Sharon had said about Tess, Brock, and most of all, himself. How could he continue being with a girl who couldn't trust him, or expect him to only have her on his mind? Not only was Sharon to over possessive of him, she just expected too much of him. He knew that he was about to was the only solution available. For the both of them.  
  
"I really thought our relationship could handle anything that came our way," Alden confessed, his voice still bitter. "But I guess I was wrong." With that, Sharon crouched down to the ground in order to be face-to- face with Alden. He stared at his guitar strings in order to avoid eye contact with his now former girlfriend.  
  
"You're breaking up with me, aren't you?" Sharon asked in total shock. When Alden didn't respond, Sharon knew his answer. "You are. Does this mean you and Tess will be going out now?"  
  
"Tess and I are just friends, and nothing more," Alden reminded her, standing up. "I'm just not ready for a committed relationship yet. I need to be on my own for a while. To keep things simple." Try to understand, Sharon.  
  
But Sharon didn't understand. As he left her in the music room, he overheard her hysterical crying. He stopped for a moment, and then peered back in. He saw her, sitting with her back to the wall, head buried in her arms with her legs to her waist. She lifted her head up for a moment to get air. When she did so, Alden saw her face, her beautiful cheeks streaked with tears, those beautiful green eyes red from her crying. After breathing and hiccupping, she buried her face into her legs, more sobbing and sniffing emerging from her. He left again, hastily so she wouldn't have noticed he was there. Part of him wanted to go back and try to explain to her why he did what he did. But he couldn't because he was still angry with her for what she did.  
  
This is not my fault, Alden reminded himself over and over. Her paranoia and her jealousy brought this. Sharon'll soon realize that what I did was for the best. I hope.  
  
~Present Day~  
  
Alden felt tears fall from his blue eyes as he stared at the bracelet, staining his paper. The anger he felt for Sharon's reaction was now replaced with overwhelming guilt. Deep down, he always knew that it wasn't completely Sharon's fault that they were no longer dating. Two years had passed since Alden said those fateful words. Two years since he and Sharon had shared a kiss. Two years since Alden decided that they should move on.  
  
It's official then; I'm an idiot! He thought bitterly. How could I have been so stupid as to let Sharon go?  
  
Alden looked back down on his blank paper, then dug into his desk drawer and pulled out a pencil. As he placed the tip onto the paper, he began to write.  
  
'Fallen Angel. By Alden Jones', Alden thought as he began to write.  
  
Sounds hummed loudly, the vibrating reverberations from the strings echoing from the music room. Alden and Brock strummed their guitar strings with great speed, sweat glistening down their skin, while Carmen banged on the drums loudly, his short brown hair dancing wildly around his face. The sounds from their music were so loud, they couldn't even hear themselves shout above the notes. Brock strummed one last hymn on his electric guitar, and the music slowly game devolved into pure silence. When the final chords had faded out into the music room's air, the guys did their usual cheers and claps.  
  
"Excellent rhythms, Carmen," Alden complimented, wiping the sweat from his forehead.  
  
"Too bad your playing was off some," Carmen said absently. When he realized what he said, he felt horrible. "I take that back! I didn't mean it that way! I meant--"  
  
"Don't bother. I get it," Alden said, putting his guitar back into his case. "I've just been having my mind on a lot of stuff lately. I just hope I have enough time tonight to study for that big History next Monday. Mom and dad have been hounding me about my grades lately."  
  
"Ditto," Brock agreed, locking up his case. "Except the pressure's worse with my dad."  
  
"Maybe you can convince your dad to come over tomorrow and spend the weekend," Alden suggested. "I can help you understand some of the concepts of the Civil Rights movement."  
  
"Thanks, dude," Brock complimented, going the school's phone. "I'll call dad and ask him if it's okay."  
  
"Let me know soon, okay?" Alden asked, opening the door. "I'm gonna grab something form my locker then take a quick whiz."  
  
Alden and Carmen left, leaving Brock alone in the music room for a few minutes. As he prepared to dial his family's phone number, he noticed something on the ground. At first, he thought it was just a regular piece of paper that someone forgot. So, he just shrugged it off and prepared to dunk it into the trash. However, as he prepared to do so, he noticed some familiar shapes on the paper. Curious, he unfolded the sheet to further examine the details. When he realized what they were, his eyes widened and his jaw dropped in awe.  
  
SPITZ! He immediately thought.  
  
Brock could not have been more right at the time. The square shapes and the lines connecting them across a girl's pair of teeth, the mid-length hair, the hair clips, and the medallion draped around her neck. The only person who he knew had that appearance was Alden's ex-girlfriend, Sharon Spitz. But why would a drawing of her be in their practice room? When he looked at the back, he saw more sketches of Sharon's face. The one in the center of the page showed her with her head hanging down, tears streaming down her cheeks. The corners were streaked with tear marks, which Brock assumed were Alden's. After he skimmed through the lyrics, the one item on the article of paper that caught his attention was the date. The day that this poem, or song, was written was Wednesday, and today was Friday, and the year was 2004 when it was written. Alden dumped Sharon in the year 2002, leaving Brock with the only conclusion possible.  
  
He still loves her, Brock realized. Dude.  
  
~To Be Continued~ 


	2. Truth Revealed

Regrets  
By: Julia DeLuca  
  
Chapter 2  
  
Inside Alden's house, Brock took a piece of paper he was using to write down notes and, after a few seconds of folding, the paper became a paper airplane. He held it up in the air with pride, then turned his head to Alden. Alden was distracted by his history book, or at least that's what he wanted Brock to assume. The corner of Brock's sunglasses noticed two pictures, each of a different girl. One was Sharon; Brock could recognize the mid-length blonde hair and apple green eyes anywhere. The other was of Alden's current girlfriend, Marlo. Brock knew this because of the dark brown skin, short black hair with red streaks everywhere, and the light brown eyes. Brock smirked when he noticed that instead of taking notes on the Civil Rights project, Alden was writing down words on two separate columns on his sheet of paper, one side each for Marlo and Sharon.  
  
"I never knew that Marlo and Sharon were connected to the Civil Rights movement," Brock mused, tossing his paper airplane into the trashcan.  
  
"What?" Alden said, trying to hide the evidence by slamming his book shut. "I don't know what you're talking about, dude."  
  
"Sure you don't," Brock teased, pulling a sheet of paper from his pocket.  
  
Alden looked at his best friend with an annoyed glance, then re- opened his history book and a fresh sheet of paper. When he stowed the pictures and other sheet away, quickly so Brock couldn't taunt him again, he noticed Brock uncrumpling the sheet of paper he previously had in his jeans pocket.  
  
"Wonder who wrote these?" Brock asked teasingly. "Whoever wrote this is a great poet, who's in a lot of heartache. I only read a little bit of the lyrics so far, but from what I can see, the speaker realizes he was being stupid in letting this beautiful woman go. Now he thinks it's too late to make up for past doings."  
  
"GIVE ME THAT!" Alden shrieked, yanking the paper from Brock's hand. "Where the hell did you get that? You'd better not had taken it from my po- -"  
  
"So you're admitting that YOU were one who wrote those lyrics?" Brock asked, then laughed. "Dude, relax. I'm the only one who knows about these. I found them earlier on the floor when you left to call your folks."  
  
Before Alden could retort, he felt his jean pockets, then noticed a hole in the pockets of his jeans. He looked at the size of the hole, then grimaced and folded his arms across his chest and fumed.  
  
"You win," Alden confessed bitterly. "I wrote those a couple of days ago. I don't know what possessed me to do so. I remember digging through my desk drawer for a pen, then I find a multi-colored bracelet. Then I started having flashbacks of me and Sharon together, including when I dumped her..and now you know where I stand."  
  
"When did you realize that you still loved her?" Brock asked. "I don't think it was when you saw the bracelet; that was when you finally admitted it to yourself."  
  
"I think it was.well.almost a few weeks after I dumped Sharon. But by then, Marlo and I were going out. I figured that the more I was with Marlo, the less I would miss Sharon." Alden sighed sadly. "I was wrong. It only made me miss her even more. Don't get me wrong; I like Marlo. She's fun to hang out with, and great for playing hockey with. But.she's not Sharon. I have fun with Marlo, but I also had fun with Sharon. And with Sharon.we always talked about things that mattered; like environmental issues, animal rights, and politics. I also missed how.uhh.."  
  
"Go on," Brock urged.  
  
"When I was with Sharon, I always felt like she needed me. It was one of the reasons I dumped her. But now.I realize how much I missed that feeling. How much I missed her."  
  
For a while, there was silence between Brock and Alden. Then Brock made a fake cough.  
  
"So, what're you gonna do?" Brock asked.  
  
"I have no idea," Alden confessed. "I still love Sharon.but I don't want to hurt Marlo's feelings."  
  
"You're in a serious dilemma," Brock said. "The irony: you have three sisters, and you have little to no clue about the mind of a girl."  
  
"HEY!" Alden shouted, then grabbed his pillow and smacked Brock's face with it.  
  
~To Be Continued~ 


End file.
